s perch on to the road. Luckily
the mare kept a straight course, and at length, by a tremendous stretch,
well supported from the rear by his faithful comrades, the boy succeeded
in reaching the reins and pulling them up over the mare's tail.

"Hang on now!" said he; "we're all right if I can only guide her."

CHAPTER TWO.

HOW OUR HEROES FALL OUT AND YET REMAIN FRIENDS.

Mountjoy House had a narrow escape that afternoon of losing three of its
most promising pupils.

The boys themselves by no means realised the peril of their situation.
Indeed, after the first alarm, and finding that, by clinging tightly to
the rail of the box-seat, they could support themselves on their feet on
the floor of the swinging vehicle, Heathcote and Coote began almost to
enjoy it, and were rather sorry one or two of the Templeton boys were
not at hand to see how Mountjoy did things.

Richardson, however, with the reins in his hands, but utterly powerless
to check the headlong career of the mare, or to do anything but guide
her, took a more serious view of the situation, and heartily wished the
drive was at an end.

It was a flat road all the way to Mountjoy--no steep hill to breathe the
runaway, and no ploughed field to curb her ardour. It was a narrow
road, too, so narrow that, for two vehicles to pass one another, it was
necessary for one of the two to draw up carefully at the very verge.
And as the verge in the present case meant the edge of rather a steep
embankment, the prospect was not altogether a cheering one for an
inexperienced boy, who, if he knew very little about driving, knew quite
well that everything depended on his own nerve and coolness.

And Richardson not only had a head, but knew how to keep it. With a
rein tightly clutched in each hand, with his feet firmly pressed against
the footboard, with a sharp eye out over the mare's ears, and a grim
twitch on his determined mouth, he went over the chances in his own
mind.

"If she goes on like this, we shall get to Mountjoy in half an hour.
What a pace! We're bound to smash up before we get there! Perhaps
these fellows had better try and jump for it. Hallo! lucky we didn't go
over that stone! Wonder if I could pull her up if I got on her back?
She might kick up and smash the trap! Wonder if she will pull up, or go
over the bank, or what? Tom--Tom will have to run hard to catch us.
Whew! what a swing! I could have sworn we were over!"

This last peril, and